Asking for Barzani’s help is useless: CHP

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

CHP leader Kılıçdaroğlu criticizes government. AA photo

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has criticized the government for asking for help from Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (IKRG) President Massoud Barzani in the fight against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“It’s imaginary to assume that the IKRG will fight against the PKK. [Deputy Prime Minister] Bülent Arınç says Barzani should help Turkey. On the one hand you say you are the leader of the Middle East, and then you rely on Barzani for a resolution of this very fundamental [Kurdish] problem. It’s enough to make a cat laugh,” Kılıçdaroğlu said late June 21 in a live TV show on private station Habertürk.

Barzani may contribute to a possible resolution, but to connect the Kurdish problem solely to Barzani would be a big mistake, Kılıçdaroğlu said. “If the [Kurdish] problem is transformed into an international problem, then danger bells would ring for Turkey,” he said. Speaking after the PKK’s latest deadly attack that killed eight soldiers on the southeastern border, Kılıçdaroğlu once again reiterated his call to establish a joint parliamentary commission to discuss methods to solve the Kurdish issue.

Kılıçdaroğlu also slammed the Chief of General Staff Necdet Özel, who reportedly told the chair of the Islamist Great Unity Party (BBP), Mustafa Destici, in a closed-door meeting that Turkey could go into PKK bases in Kandil Mountain if the U.S. was convinced and the public was prepared for heavy losses. “Turkey is a free and independent country. The Turkish Parliament approves the resolution of cross-border operations. It would be unacceptable to receive the approval of another country for an act of Parliament. I don’t presume that the Chief of General Staff would say something like that. He should explicitly contradict the imputed remarks, this is what we expect,” he said. The General Staff has not contradicted Özel’s statements, but has announced on their website June 21 that his statements “have been manipulated.”